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Committee weighs S.224 change to require DEC consultation for fishing tournaments on public-water-source lakes
Summary
The panel reviewed S.224, which would require Fish & Wildlife to consult the DEC Drinking Water and Groundwater Division before issuing permits for fishing tournaments on lakes that serve as public water sources; DEC expressed support for consultation but lawmakers raised operational concerns about response time during short seasonal events.
The committee considered language in S.224 that would require the Department of Fish & Wildlife to consult the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Drinking Water and Groundwater Division before issuing any fishing-tournament permit for an inland lake that serves as a public water source. Under the draft, DEC could place conditions, requirements, limits or prohibitions on tournament permits to protect water supplies.
Brian Redmond, director of the Drinking Water Protection Division at DEC, told the committee his division and Fish & Wildlife have discussed the proposal and consider required consultation an appropriate way to coordinate responses and protect public supplies. "We think that's a nice connection point for us to understand the proposal and for us to consult on specifics of the department," Redmond said, describing the consultation as a mechanism to identify whether protective measures are needed and to coordinate any mitigation.
Committee members welcomed the protective intent but raised practical concerns. Several senators pointed out tournaments are seasonal and sometimes short (for example, ice-fishing windows) and said a consultation requirement could unintentionally delay permits or make events infeasible unless turnaround logistics are addressed. One member asked whether pre-established, waterbody-specific protective conditions could be developed in advance so DEC review would be quicker or unnecessary for routine events.
Members discussed procedural compromises: setting a statutory response window for DEC (for example, 72 hours) with automatic clearance if no response is received, or directing DEC and Fish & Wildlife to adopt pre-arranged conditions by known drinking-water intakes to reduce case-by-case review. Redmond said DEC expects most consultations would be straightforward and low-risk but acknowledged response time depends on workload and prioritization and recommended developing a standard set of protective conditions.
The committee did not vote. Members asked staff to work with Fish & Wildlife and DEC to draft clarifying language that preserves DEC’s authority to protect water supplies while minimizing permit delays for time-sensitive tournaments.
